A jagged opening yawned before us.
My hands split open, skin tearing, blood slicking the handle. Sweat soaked my thin shift, clinging to my body as my chest heaved.
My legs shook, but I didn’t stop.
Behind me, the others reached the shed, eyes wide, faces streaked with dirt and tears.
Freedom was right there.
So were the hunters.
Ana didn’t wait for permission.
She scrambled through the opening first, naked skin scraping against stone, dust clinging to her like a second skin. She landed hard on the other side, stumbling but upright.
“Go!” I screamed, my voice breaking apart.
She hesitated—just a heartbeat. Turned back to me, eyes shining with something close to disbelief. Gratitude. Grief.
“Thank you, Penelope,” she whispered.
Then she disappeared into the darkness beyond the wall.
I made myself a vow then, quiet but unbreakable.
I wouldn’t leave until every last one of them was out.
If the hunters caught me, so be it. If my body paid the price, so be it. At least six women would breathe free air tonight—six women ripped from a hell no map on earth acknowledged, no government admitted existed.
That had to count for something.
Sofia came next.
She moved faster than I expected, bare feet slapping stone and dirt, her breath sharp and uneven.
The milky scar clouding her left eye caught the light as she reached the opening and stopped short, staring at it as if it might vanish if she blinked.
That eye had been taken from her years ago—punishment from a man who’d decided blinding her would make her more obedient. More grateful. Less defiant.
“It’s open,” she whispered, disbelief cracking her voice. “It’s really open.”
“Yes,” I said fiercely, grabbing her arm. “It’s real. Go. Now.”
Her hesitation lasted only a second. Then survival kicked in. She nodded once—hard, decisive—and pushed herself through the jagged gap without another word. No thanks. No backward glance. Just determination and the desperate will to live.
She was gone.
Christina and Simona appeared almost together, stumbling into the shed like ghosts chased by hell itself.
Their eyes were wild, hair matted with sweat and dirt, ribs showing beneath their skin. They didn’t pause. Didn’t look at me crouched by the wall, hammer still clutched in my ruined hands like a relic.
They didn’t need instructions.
They dove through the opening, scraping skin, gasping as they disappeared into the night. One after the other. Gone.
My heart hammered so violently I thought it might tear free of my chest.
Then Carina appeared.